Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

It was supposed to be a time filled with family and friends and celebrations of the March 17 birth of Abel Wittenberg.

But for state Rep. Robert Wittenberg and his wife, Kimberly, the first weeks of Abel’s life have been nothing like they had hoped and planned.

The threat of coronavirus has forced the Huntington Woods Democrat and his family to self isolate because of the three nights they spent in the hospital for Abel’s birth and the fear that they or their newborn could be exposed to the virus if they go outside.

So instead of sharing the joy they’re feeling over the newest addition to their family, they have been reduced to showing off their son and receiving good wishes from the picture window in the front of their home.

State Rep. Robert Wittenberg of Huntington Woods and his wife Kimberly and their children Ada and newborn Abel talk with Robert's mother Mollie Wittenberg of Huntington Woods in their front window on Friday, April 3, 2020. Wittenberg hasn't been able to hold her grandchild yet due to concerns with the Coronavirus.(Photo: Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press)

The hand-drawn messages and visits from friends and family have been frequent and sweet. “Hello Baby Abel! Auntie, Unkie & Cuz love you,” the sign held by one visitor said. Another held up by Aria, the cousin and playmate of Wittenberg’s 21-month-old daughter Ada, read, “I miss you Ada!” and featured a scrawled picture of a dog.

“When we had Ada, we had our family here every day. We both grew up in the area, so both of our parents and our siblings live around here. They were constantly here visiting and helping,” Wittenberg said. “But it’s a whole different world now.”

That whole different world has only Kimberly’s mother, who took care of Ada while the Wittenbergs were at the hospital, occasionally in the home to help care for Ada, with appropriate precautions in place. But no one outside of Robert and Kimberly have held baby Abel.

It’s a combination of an abundance of caution and guilt that has kept Kimberly’s mom away from Abel.

“She’s worried in general,” Wittenberg said. “But none of the other grandparents have gotten to hold Abel and she said she would feel so bad if she was the only one to hold him.”

The family of four has gone outside in their backyard, but not for walks in the neighborhood for fear that the neighbors they’ve gotten to know so well would want to talk and admire Abel.

They’ve been to two newborn wellness checks where they and other healthy clients were allowed into the doctor’s office, but the sick patients who had appointments were seen outside in their cars by doctors and nurses in full personal protection gear.

“It’s such a weird, weird time we’re in,” Wittenberg said. “But we have to do what we have to do.”

State Rep. Robert Wittenberg of Huntington Woods and his wife Kimberly and their children Ada and newborn Abel talk with Robert's mother Mollie Wittenberg of Huntington Woods in their front window on Friday, April 3, 2020. Wittenberg hasn't been able to hold her grandchild yet due to concerns with the Coronavirus.(Photo: Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press)

That meant getting evaluated by nurses every day when he returned to the hospital after taking a few hours to go home and spend some time with Ada. And helping his wife walk around the small hospital room because nurses wanted her to get exercise, but not walk the halls.

“We probably had 100 visitors at the hospital after Ada was born,” he said. “To combine the high of having a new baby and new family member with the uncertainty of what’s going on in the world around us, it's been emotional for all of us.”

Wittenberg’s plaintive posts on Facebook after Abel was born caught the eye of childhood friend David Rochkind, a photojournalist and creative director of Washington D.C/.based Ground Media, which creates video content for nonprofit agencies.

He thought the photos on Wittenberg’s Facebook page of people visiting through the front window of the suburban home would fulfill a plea put out by the United Nations to the creative community to voluntarily come up with content that would convey the message of ways to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The UN will review the work and pick the ones that best convey the message and put those clips on a website that will be made available for public service announcements.

“That’s what made Robert’s story so appealing,” Rochkind said. “The photos are all his and even the script he’s reading are his own words that came from the post.”

Adding a call to action at the end with the state’s website for dealing with the coronavirus — www.michigan.gov/coronavirus — was the final touch. The hope is that the 60-second spot will be acceptable to the UN and used by websites and television stations as a Public Service Announcement.

“Last week, we welcomed baby Abel into the world,” Wittenberg says in the video. “This is a very difficult time, but we’re grateful to be together and grateful for all the hospital staff who took wonderful care of us. And we’re especially grateful for our large front window where family can come and see Abel.

“This really is an emotional roller coaster, combining the joy of having a new baby, the fear that he could get sick or we could get our parents sick,” he added. “So this is what we do. We’re all in this together and we’ll get through this together.”

Wittenberg said he couldn’t be happier to participate.

“If this gets to a few people and encourages them to stay home and stay safe, if this can help get us back to some sense of normalcy, I’m happy to do this,” he said.